Jonny Wilkinson's eagerly awaited comeback lasted a mere 40 minutes last night but, happily for his many admirers, England's feted fly-half was none the worse for his re-introduction to competitive rugby on a mellow summer's evening in the far west of Ireland.
It was always Newcastle's intention to restrict Wilkinson's first appearance since undergoing surgery to repair nerve damage in his shoulder and, as planned, the most famous No10 in the world played in only the first half.
An eighth-minute penalty goal, a couple of half-breaks, a knock-on and one impressively solid tackle on the Connacht centre Niall O'Brien was effectively the sum of Wilkinson's contribution but, more importantly from his point of view, he looked perfectly at ease and fully recovered from the injury which he has admitted briefly made him fear for his career.
"I am very happy and relieved to come through it," said Wilkinson afterwards, who took a slight bang on the elbow in the first half. "It was nice to get some rugby under my belt and start to get back to something like normality. The shoulder is fine, there was no reaction. I tried as hard as I could to test it out."
In the heady days following England's World Cup triumph in Sydney last November Wilkinson would never have imagined his next away game of any description would be some nine months later on the shores of Galway Bay at a venue light years removed from the cavernous Stadium Australia. His fame has spread sufficiently, however, to attract a crowd of around 4,000 to the recently refurbished greyhound stadium which Connacht call home and three brave souls could even be spotted clinging to a roof top at one end of the ground. Unless they simply wanted to gain a sneak pre-season insight into the Falcons' prop Mickey Ward's fitness, it would appear the "Jonny" effect has been largely unaffected by his spell on the sideline.
Frankly, though, the whole point of last night was not hero worship but to run a critical eye over English rugby's returning thoroughbred. The test of his shoulder came as early as the fourth minute when he was bundled to the ground by the home winger Ted Robinson as the pair chased a loose ball in the Falcons' 22. But at no stage did he show any sign of shirking the sort of physical collision which he has always enjoyed.
Not until the 29th minute was he required to make a head-on tackle but the simple act of bringing the charging O'Brien to earth was precisely the therapy he had been longing for in the lengthy months since December when he last wore Newcastle's colours. Sadly for the roof-top patrons he spent the rest of the game in front of the away dug-out, watching his team-mates transform a 9-3 half-time deficit into a comfortable win with his replacement Dave Walder pulling the strings at outside-half.
It is bound to take a while for Wilkinson to shake off all the inevitable rust which a lack of match practice causes and he will be eager for some more action in Newcastle's next game of their short Irish tour against Munster next Monday. What can be said, without fear of contradiction, is that he looks in good shape externally; a golden tan and a few extra pounds of muscles will do the poster sales no harm.
It was a decent night for Newcastle's new international signing Colin Charvis although Luke Gross was fortunate to receive no sanction for a knee on Michael Swift when the latter was delaying ruck ball. The former Bath hooker Andy Long helped himself to a couple of second-half tries and there was a late one for the promising teenager Matthew Tait.
By then, though, the contest was over and the main participant was safely back in cotton wool. The home fly-half Eric Elwood was warmly applauded on to the field by both teams on the occasion of his 150th appearance for Connacht but for Wilkinson the roar of bigger crowds now lies ahead once more.
Newcastle's first league game is at Worcester on September 5, after which his next target will be the club's European Cup campaign and England's autumn internationals. By then, one suspects, more of the old swagger will have returned and several opponents will have discovered that he still hits harder than the average stand-off.
The best-case scenario is that his career stands another couple of World Cups and, at the age of 25 now, it is still conceivable he could win 150 caps and smash every scoring record in existence. If he does, he will remember Galway and smile to himself.
Connacht: Mostyn; Robinson (Slemen 50), O'Brien, Downey, McPhillips; Elwood (capt; Warwick 50), Tierney (O'Loughlin 50); Clarke, Bourke, Bracken, Myburgh, Short, Swift (Muldoon 55), Lacey (Neville 55), O'Sullivan (Carroll 51).
Pens: Elwood 3.
Sin-bin: Swift 38.
Newcastle: Shaw; May, Noon, M Wilkinson, Stephenson (Tait 60); J Wilkinson (co-capt; Walder h/t), Charlton; Peel (co-capt), Thompson (Long h/t), Ward, Grimes, Hamilton (Gross 33), McCarthy, Dowson, Charvis.
Tries: Grimes, Long 2, Tait. Cons: Walder 3.
Pens: J Wilkinson, Walder.
Referee: M Kilgore (IRFU).
